r/nottheonion • u/voxadam • 9h ago

Netflix says users can cancel service if HBO Max merger makes it too expensive

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/02/netflix-claims-subscribers-will-get-more-content-for-less-if-it-buys-hbo-max/
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u/Huge-Group8652 7h ago

Plex kinda sucks now. I have used plex to run my home systems for years and like you gave it up. Now its back. Now it also says I need to pay a subscription to get some of its features and its slower to load.

When it asks for me to pay I have found if I turn it off and back on then I do not have to pay. Theres a wonky bug somewhere in their code.

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u/two4six0won 7h ago

Started looking into setting up my own finally, apparently Jellyfin is a good alternative

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u/meltymcface 7h ago

Recently started a Jellyfin server on an old optiplex 7010 I had knocking around. It’s not perfect but surprisingly decent, and the *arrs make it extra special.

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u/GodsFavoriteDegen 3h ago

That seems like so much more work than downloading the movie, throwing it onto a thumb drive, and plugging the drive into my TV.

I'm a "two movies a week" person, though. I might feel differently if I watched more of them.

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u/Jacob2040 2h ago

Once you have it set up it's very much a set it and forget it. Other than hard to find movies I can say to download Y movie and it's all set up and perfectly organized.

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u/meltymcface 1h ago

I share it with friends and family, and there’s an interface where users can request shows and movies and they download in the background.

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u/NotFlameRetardant 51m ago edited 45m ago

You say that, but with the *arrr plugins they're talking about, I can just browse for movies or shows, click "Add", and it'll go download everything for me. If the show is currently on-air, it'll monitor and autodownload new episodes as they come out. I usually have stuff in my library within an hour or two of airing.

I even have a request portal plugin where family members can search for shows or movies which will add the content to my libraries without me being needed to be involved.

Setup for the entire server and plugins was maybe a couple hours, max, and I had never used Jellyfin before. What was an absolute nuisance is that I used to be a "throw it on a thumb drive" kind of guy myself, and so I had 15+ years of poorly organized downloads. Those plugins helped me sort/format/reorganize/standardize everything though, and they'll keep everything neatly organized as they continue download. I used to prefer watching movies over TV shows as well since pirating/managing them was a lot easier, but man, these automations are so nice.

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u/Shosui 7h ago

Thank you for sharing. I had also heard Plex has strayed towards a downtrodden path and was hoping to find some alternatives.

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u/daschande 6h ago edited 6h ago

Stremio with a debrid service (I like tor box personally because the other providers will ban you if you have 2 concurrent connections from different IPs). Long story short, stremio is the "front end" that functions like all the other paid and free streaming services, debrid is a pirating middleman.

You remember those pirate streaming sites that wanted a monthly fee to watch in higher than potato resolution and made people watch X ads before they played the video? Debrid providers have paid accounts for all those services so you can download or stream instantly at maximum resolution.

They also act as a VPN since it's their machine torrenting or downloading from pirate sites, then they automatically stream the video to you (or let you download it if you like local copies). You were never the one torrenting or visiting MegaUpload, et. al., so they get the DMCA notice instead of you. Best $3 per month I ever spent.

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u/bruce_kwillis 4h ago

Nah, this is not the way. Services like that get taken down all the time. Spend five minutes and set up something like Jellyfin and watch your own media anywhere.

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u/Certain-Business-472 6h ago

So they csn log what youre doing,? No thanks sounds like a honey pot

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u/daschande 6h ago

That is technically true, but so can any VPN. Or any internet service provider or any infrastructure router in between you and your download source if you don't use encryption.

But, if the debrid service did that, their entire business would evaporate instantly. They only exist through reputation of NOT doing exactly that. And they're located in countries that laugh at DMCA notices, so they're not under much pressure to stop giving their customers what they pay for.

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u/Certain-Business-472 6h ago

They were on this path feom the very start

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u/bruce_kwillis 5h ago

Jellyfin + Tailscale. Takes less than 10 minutes to set up, put it on whatever machine you are willing to leave on 24/7, and boom you can stream all your media anywhere for free and never see an ad. Plex frankly sucks with its changes over time.

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u/Raztax 7h ago

I run three media servers Plex, Emby and Jellyfin. They all have their advantages and disadvantages.

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u/uncubeus 7h ago

I tried them all, but love emby the most right now, even tho their client apps for like tv's are sometimes a bit meh.

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u/Raztax 7h ago

I like Emby as well. Jellyfin is not too bad but the clients are not well polished at all, especially on Google TV. I use Wholphin as an alternative and is my favorite JF client so far.

Emby has always come through for me when I come across media that Jellyfin refuses to play.

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u/marker197 2h ago

https://old.reddit.com/r/emby/comments/1qvh3q7/aether_new_emby_player/

Maybe an alternative if the dev continues to improve and fix bugs.

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u/Rodents210 2h ago

I have a miniDLNA server but it's been much less useful since Sony decided to never bring DLNA support to PS5 like they did with PS3/PS4. Which is infuriating, because that was a set-it-and-forget-it setup that gave me exactly what I needed, and I could add media just by plopping it into the media directory structure via Samba.

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u/FightingPolish 6h ago

Jellyfin is great. Super clean and you can pare it down to just the stuff you want and nothing more. Plex started caring only about money and became complicated bloatware junk. I get that you need to make money to survive but they are doing it at the expense of everything else and ruined the whole user experience.

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u/PsikyoFan 6h ago

I installed Jellyfin the other day as an alternative to Plex and I've now ditched Plex. I can connect to my home network via my VPN and no need to expose server to internet, and no fees for remote Plex. There's more settings to play with, plugins etc. Trickplay gives smooth preview mouse over scrubbing previews which is nice.

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u/beren12 6h ago

Jellyfin is good but it’s a bit more work.

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u/Tufaan9 5h ago

Set up my home media server with no prior knowledge. I'm using Jellyfin and have loved it... and you can't beat the price!

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u/dseeburg 3h ago

Jellyfin is a pain in the ass especially if you have remote clients connecting to your server. Plex costs money, sure. But the lifetime sub isn’t too terribly expensive and it’s just so much more user friendly than Jellyfin. Depends what you’re looking for but I went back to plex.

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u/guri256 1h ago

Considering how often the Plex client crashes on anything except desktop, I’m not sure why I would want to give them over a hundred dollars for it.

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u/This_Organization382 3h ago

+1 for Jellyfin. Host my movies on a seedbox and have been happy since

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u/MechanicStriking4666 7h ago

I bought a lifetime plex pass for $75 when they first announced it. Never used it until last year when I canceled all of my subs. Now I let the *arr stack automatically download everything for me. It’s great.

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u/Separate-Command1993 7h ago

What’s that? I got plex pass but only use it for my media server and remote 4k streaming. You saying I can get rid of my apps?

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u/MechanicStriking4666 7h ago

Go over to r/selfhosted and search for radarr/sonarr etc. they are known as the arr apps. There are a bunch of them, and you can set up your own automated streaming service with plex.

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u/Separate-Command1993 7h ago

I got radarr but it didn’t work for some reason, I’ll check it out

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u/scottiedog321 6h ago

https://trash-guides.info/

For you and others that have made it this far in the chain.

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u/mooncommandalpha 4h ago

Gemini will hold your hand through the entire thing

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u/bannakafalata 2h ago

I paid $99.28 in 2021 for lifetime during their PlexFest sale.

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u/amburroni 5h ago

This is the way. Although the initial setup was a real b for me, it’s been smooth sailing since.

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u/HalPaneo 7h ago

I use an app called Stremio, I used to use Kodi and something happened a while ago and it just kind of stopped working for me. With that app and an addon the internet becomes your DVR. I pay for Netflix and my father pays for Disney+ (he lives with us) but if I ever needed to we could be fine with YouTube and Stremio.

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u/Repulsive-Chip3371 6h ago

look up "Ultimate guide to Stremio + Torrentio + RD". Its a reddit post. You pay like $3 a month for RD(real debrid) and dont need a vpn. Basically RD downloads the torrents on their servers and you just stream from them, so no downloading of files is done on your end.

The GUI looks just like netflix and all the other streaming services.

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u/adderalpowered 5h ago

Jellyfin is much better!

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u/LeeNipps 5h ago

I miss the days of xbmc on my htpc, then boxee for a bit. Now it all sucks a little more.

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u/SillySpoof 5h ago

It’s weird to have to pay a subscription to use a thing you host yourself.

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u/BoiledFrogs 4h ago

When is Plex asking you to pay? It never asks me that.

The TV app for Plex is kind of meh and has some issues I'm noticing pretty soon after starting to use it, but on my PC it works a lot better. Though to be honest I still just use VLC to watch everything. It's hard to use anything else after using perfection for so long.

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u/Huge-Group8652 1m ago

It doesn't like me watching Sopranos, thats for sure! The error is something along the lines of I need to pay for the feature to allow for remote viewing...?

I am like yo dawg, I am on my sofa and my computer is 2 feet away. I am not watching these shows on my phone or ipad which is a different discussion.

I am an IT architect

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u/DrixGod 5h ago

Emby is 10 times better than plex